ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER:

The System Works, Even if These Bozos Don’t (Stanley Kutler, 3/02/10, Truth Dig)

Dwight Eisenhower swept to victory in the 1952 presidential election, carrying with him a Republican Party that had been rejected for 20 years. The Republican majority proved short-lived, and for the last six years of Eisenhower’s two terms he worked with a Democratic Congress. He governed effectively, aided, no doubt, by the fact that real congressional power often belonged to the alliance between Republicans and Southern Democrats. (That alliance fell apart years later when the Republican Party, in true bipartisan fashion, overwhelmingly supported civil rights legislation in 1964-65.)

Richard Nixon, who took pride in his “firsts,” had the dubious distinction of being the first president elected twice without carrying his party to power in Congress. Still, Nixon governed effectively for the most part until his self-inflicted wound. Conflict and hostility surely existed, yet Nixon and Congress agreed on some notable legislation. The same holds for Ronald Reagan, whose party never controlled the House during his terms, and ruled the Senate only sporadically.

And W didn't win back the Senate--after the Jeffords switch--until '02, yet passed everything from tax cuts to NCLB. And Bill Clinton's successes as president came only when working with the GOP, in the minority and then the majority.

The UR too is only likely to start governing well once government is divided.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 2, 2010 6:54 AM